Panels, welding and things

[Bobpipedream]

Hi everyone,

Well the E is inside the house on its rotisserie and being able to spin it round is just brilliant...

So bit more rust than I thought, but not as much as I feared. Extra week of welding to do manly because the various botched repairs and brand new floors were attached by some means that someone thought was welding, but looks more like random bits of chewing gum and are about as good structurally as chewing gum!

But couple of questions - I spent most of my time welding my boat and still have the weld three times philosophy (root and big cap each side) makes it water tight. Obviously not a good method for the E! So when joining new panels, I will try to spot weld and forgo the temptation to weld complete runs. But when you old hands do repair plates, do you spot or weld completely around as per the mot instructions?

With the rear inner wheel arches, I was going to buy new panels, but they seem very expensive for what is almost all flat plate. Some of mine are saveable too, but I am very tempted to weld a complete plate over the weird little shelf at the rear of the wheel arch. The shelf only seems to have two functions - to trap water and then once rusted out, be a pain to the poor soul who has to re weld it. Is it tantamount to making the queen ride the bus, if I were to weld my new plate over the shelf to create a smooth surface?

Finally what colour were the wheel arches from new? Did they match body colour who were they painted black?

Thanks all

P.s. whoever said only two people are required to lift a body tub around must be built like Geoff Capes but with out the budgie... Took four of us and still dented the rear wheel arch.

[ChrisC]

For that flat shelf... I welded a triangular plate on the top so that it became a 30' (ish) 'sloping' face instead. I seam welded the edges and then covered it with sealer etc.

For replacing entire panels - normally people stitch weld or spot weld and I would only seam weld if letting in a repair section. If you seam weld everywhere it would nigh on impossible to remove that panel in the future...

FYI - the inner wheel arches are far from flat - there are complex curves everywhere and for me it was a nightmare to fabricate small repair sections around the wheel arch edge - it took me weeks... but then welding is not my day job (I went to night school so that I could restore my Etype). You may get better / conflicting answers from other folks.

[Bobpipedream]

Thanks Chris,

I think I may do the same with the shelf.

I will be getting the forward inner arches as you are right, they are complex, just the rear part is mostly flat plates apart from where it joins the outer and that I should be able to beat into submission!

The rotisserie is fantastic and will make this so much easier. I used to hate doing the occasional weld job on a car.

[ChrisC]

I did it old-school using axle stands and yep welding upside down is indeed a lot harder - they certainly didnt teach that at night school... :) I cant tell you how many times I burned myself.

[JimmyS]

My brother has been welding the replacement panels on my car. His track record of building sound rally cars gave me all the confidence I needed (really :D ). He has been using a combination of plug welds where spot welds have been drilled out, coupled with stitch welds along the edges.







This is, to my mind, a most satisfactory technique and will look really tidy with some seam sealer in place; but as Chris says, it would be quite a task to remove the panels in the future.

[paulsco]

I try to follow the original form of construction where possible; I have been spot welding replacement panels, where I can reach and plug welding them where I can?t.
I butt weld in patch panels to make them like the originals. If you have a lot of panels to replace, a spot welder is a good investment.
I too was surprised at the cost of replacement panels; similar panels are much cheaper for other makes of car, so I started of making my own.
There is a trade off between cost and time though and I have taken to buying a lot of them now. I thought my car was relatively rust free, but when I started delving deeper I have found I needed to replace the floors, sills, crossmember, boot floor etc etc.
I found that a rotisserie was a must, as it allows you to get at the panels from any angle and as Chris says; welding upwards is best avoided.
On my 65 FHC the wheel arches which are original, have black underseal over primer; there is no top coat.

Paul